New weight guidance for pregnant women

27/07/2010

Women should be encouraged to achieve a healthy weight before trying to conceive and advised to follow a balanced diet when pregnant, according to new guidance.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has published a series of new recommendations on dietary and exercise interventions for weight management before, during and after pregnancy.

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Designed to help health professionals support women at this time, the new guidelines suggest that doctors should highlight the health risks associated with being overweight during pregnancy, both to mother and baby.

However, they state that women should not be advised to try to lose weight while they are pregnant.

Professor Mike Kelly, director of the NICE Centre for Public Health Excellence, claimed that about half of women of childbearing age are overweight or obese.

'Although obese women can have healthy babies, the evidence does suggest that there are more risks associated with pregnancies in women who have a BMI of over 30 when they become pregnant,' he revealed.

The expert said that women should not feel pressurised to lose weight rapidly after giving birth and noted that shedding excess weight gradually 'can actually help women maintain a healthy weight in the long term'.

The Royal College of Midwives recently highlighted the need to tackle obesity, insisting that women should eat healthily 'before, during and after the birth of their baby'.

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